Editors Box. 859 



give way to despair, but keep pushing onwards. I think our young friend 

 the " Apprentice " would find his taak much easier if he were to adopt 

 the plan I recommend. Let him take for his motto the word " Perse- 

 VERAJ!^CE," and if his first attempt in life as a forester seems dark and 

 cloudy, the sun will shine by and by, and by steadily persevering he cannot 

 but succeed in the end in gaining the height of his ambition. 



An Under-Forester. 



BARKING TIMBER. 



Sir,— Some practical articles on barking timber would be interesting 

 to many of your readers during the spring months. Take oak peeling. 

 Should this be commenced as soon as the sap runs ? and how long can 

 it be economically carried on ? At what stage of the flow of sap does 

 the bark weigh best ? Then larch. An impression prevails that the 

 weight of bark is much greater in the end of the season than in the 

 beginning. Is it so ? Further, w4mt is the most economical staff of men 

 and women for cutting or thinning say an oak wood of thirty or forty 

 years old ? The information I would like to see is for Scotland, and for 

 properties with a limited extent of woods. W. H. M. 



A LARGE BOG OAK. 



Sir,— Whilst walking with Mr. Henderson, forester to Lord Digby, on 

 the barony of Geashill, King's County, a short time ago, he called my atten- 

 tion to an immense oak, found by him whilst draining a portion of the bog. 

 It was four feet below the surface, and on measuring the solid portion I 

 found it to be 64 feet long, straight and clean, and squaring 2 feet at the 

 top. It is lying from west to east, and is splintered 14 feet up, and 

 appears to have been broken off in a violent storm, and precipitated a 

 considerable distance, as no trace of the root had then been found. The 

 sapvvood has rotted away, and it is perfectly sound the whole length. At 

 several feet beyond the top of the sound timber holes have been made, and 

 portions of partly decomposed timber remain, showing that the tree must 

 have been considerably over 100 feet high. 



There have been also several fine specimens of the Scots pine found in 

 the same neighbourhood. W. Tomlinson. 



Tullamore. 



THE GREAT TREES OF CALIFORNIA, " WELLINGTONIASr 



SiR^ — W". R. in last number, page 779, thinks we are guilty of 

 discourtesy to Americans when we call these trees by the above name, 

 and suggests that we henceforth should call them Sequoia gigantea. 

 This tree was first discovered by Douglas, in 1831, subsequently introduced 

 by Lobb, and named Wellingtonia (Lindley) long prior to 1854 Although 

 the two trees referred to correspond in some particulars, W. R. will, on 

 closer examination, find sufficient difference to warrant both names being 

 retained. D. S. S. 



BalUnacourte, Tipperary. 



